Book Swap!

Happy Monday (if such a thing can exist?). I am linking up for another book swap!! This time I was linked up with someone I actually know...in real life. I was paired up with Becca for this swap. Not gonna lie, at first I was bummed because I KNOW how much Becca reads and sure enough, e.v.e.r.y book I thought about swapping with her, she had already read! Girl has mad fast reading skillz.

{Becca, Jessica and I, March 2012}

But we did  use the opportunity to meet in person, where I had my first taste of "fro-yo", and we exchanged not one, but two books!

What we ended up doing, was perusing each other's Goodreads accounts to see what was on our respective "to-read" lists. Then, we also lent each other a book that we already owned and had enjoyed. Once again, the first three books I own that I wanted to lend Becca, she had already READ!! LOL...

New books!
Left: Lent from Becca
Right: On my Goodreads "to-read" list

So I lent her one of my fave books from one of my fave chick lit authors. But I'll let Becca tell you about that!

I have only just begun, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but so far I am enjoying it, a lot. I've just been way busy and haven't had much time to read lately. But I am hoping life slows down soon and I can actually finish a freakin' book!

Thanks again to Heather & Katie for hosting this swap! And thanks to my swap pal, Becca for a new book!

XOXO,

Nichole

Book Club Friday!

Happy Friday, kids! A while ago, I read book numero dos in the Fifty Shades of erotica Grey series.

The synopsis

(per E.L. James' site)

Daunted by the singular tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house.

But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades.

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life.

I will say I liked this book better than the first. I was ahem; prepared for the kinky ish that occurred (thanks to the first book) and wasn't turning fifty shades of red anymore. I feel like the characters were more developed in this book, too. There are some things that annoyed me, however. Like why can't Ana freakin' be a GROWN UP? Even though she walked out on Christian in the first book, she went back and was too submissive & pleasing in book two (and I'm not even talking about in the bedroom, lol). But I felt as though there was more of an actual storyline this time.

Though, I am seriously having a hard time getting myself through Fifty Shades Freed...

To Be Continued...

Book Club Friday

This week I read:

Synopsis

When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

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My thoughts

Erotic is an understatement, ya'll. This book is bey-ond...heated? I felt embarrassed reading this book in public, for fear people would know (then I remembered I was reading on my nook, lol) but I had to see what the heck all the hype was about.

I actually enjoyed the first book. Its not the greatest piece of literature of all time, but it read fast and kept my interest. Making me wonder what the heck was going to happen next. Christian is a messed up guy, that is for sure.

I did read the next book in this trilogy already and I didn't care for it as much. But I'll blog about that next week.

Have you read this book? What did YOU think?

Book Club Friday

I'm linking up for the first time this Friday for Book Club Friday...

I (sadly) hadn't read a whole lot recently, but found this week's e-book via The Frugal Girls. It was a chick lit book for FREE, so you know I downloaded it!

This week I read:

via

Synopsis:

Thirty-six-year-old Emma Rae Travis has been baking specialty cakes and melt-in-your-mouth pastries at The Backstreet Bakery in historic Roswell, just outside of Atlanta, for the last six years. But here s the rub about her job as a baker ... Emma is diabetic. When she tastes her creations, it can only be in the most minute portions. Emma is considered an artisan for the stunning creme brulee wedding cake that won her the Passionate Palette Award last year, but she's never even had one full slice of it.

When Jackson Drake hears about this local baker who has won a prestigious award for her wedding cake artistry, he tells his assistant to be sure and include her in the pastry tastings scheduled at his new wedding destination hotel the following week. And for Jackson, that particular day has started out badly with two workmen trapped in a broken elevator and a delivery of several dozen 300-thread-count bed linens in the wrong size abandoned in the lobby. But when the arrogant baker he met a week prior in Roswell stumbles into the dining room with a platter of pastries and a bucketful of orders, he knows for certain: It s going to be a really rotten day.

Can these two ill-suited players master the high-wire act and make a go of their new business venture? Or will they take each other crashing downward, without a net? And will the surprise wedding at The Tanglewood be theirs?

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My take:

It was a cute and light read. I read the book in a day and I thought it was decent. I didn't love it but it held my interest and again being chick lit, fiction I enjoyed it.

What have you read this week?

Book Swap Linkup

Today I am linking up with Heather & Katie for their book swap that I joined in on! I was so excited when they hosted this swap since I just got my nook color for Christmas and don't have many books on there, yet!

I was paired up with Tessica. Um, can I just say her reading list intimidates me?! Girl had a plethora of books she read in just four months! I think her four month list was more than I read in all of 2011!

But she sent me a book I had actually been wanting to read:

Synopsis:

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away.

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.

When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Wanderer probes Melanie's thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer's mind with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.

I had just finished The Hunger Games series (P.S. Have you read?! Do so, now!) and still had "hosts" and "seekers" and what not on the brain as it was, so I took a break from this one for a hot minute to read something more chick lit so that I wouldn't constantly think about my last reads. But I am stoked to start this book and see where it takes me!

I hope Tessica liked my pick for her. I def sent her a very chick lit book by one of my fave authors, Marian Keyes...but I'll let Tessica tell you all about that!

Thanks again, girl!